California Gives Plug-In Hybrids Access to Carpool Lanes

Need another reason to buy a plug-in hybridvehicle? How about this: California Governor Arnold Schwarzanegger just signed into law this week a bill that grants HOV lane (aka carpool lane) access to qualifying plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Plug-in hybrids aren’t the first non-carpool vehicles to get special HOV status in California. Certain hybrids and low-emission vehicles also get a free pass to ride in the carpool lane.

With the new bill — SB 535 — now signed into law, 40,000 of the first plug-in hybrids will have access to HOV lanes beginning in 2012. We have a sneaking suspicion that PHEVs are about to become a whole lot more attractive to customers in Los Angeles and other traffic-plagued areas.